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Around the Halls: January 18 - 20, 2010

DOWNTOWN LOS ANGELES — Today is Monday, January 18, and City Council is off today for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. When they return, councilmembers will face the medical marijuana ordinance, the designation of "Federal Earned Income Tax Credit Day," and a ban on smoking in outdoor dining areas.

MONDAY: Government offices, courts, schools, offices and banks will be closed. DASH is running, and Metro buses and trains remain on normal schedules.

TUESDAY: Council is in session, as are four committees.

At Council, item 12 is CF 09-2896, a motion directing the Planning department to study whether requirements for bicycle parking spaces at new developments should be raised.

Item 14 is CF 08-0923, the oft-debated rules that would govern medical marijuana dispensaries. A pair of alternatives come back to the council, one that would create a 500-foot buffer around "sensitive uses" and one that would create a 1000-foot buffer.

At Education and Neighborhoods committee, CF 09-1115 is a motion on neighborhood council elections. A report from the Department of Neighborhood Empowerment asks that volunteers be permitted to work in their own NC elections, something the City Clerk proposed to outlaw.

At Council, item 2 is CF 08-1544, the ban on smoking in outdoor dining areas that has slowly been wandering its way through Council.

Item 24 is CF 09-2810, a CRA request to up the salary of interim CEO Calvin Hollis to $223,256 effective December 1, 2009.